County commissioners play catching game with the judge's salary

SESHADRI KUMAR

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, November 1, 2004

There is no unanimity in commissioners court or in the court of public opinion on how many associate judges the county needs. In 1997, there were three county court-at-law judges and three district judges. There was an impact court judge for criminal courts and an associate judge for family court. Later, the state approved an additional county court-at-law and two district courts. Thus there are nine elected judges now.

Now, the courts have four associate judge positions and one of them is yet to be filled. The salary for that position has been at the center of discussion last week. Also, Judge Bradley Smith has been appointed to a sanctions court, a pilot program, established by the state. That would make appointed judges to five. There are other visiting judges as well.

One would have thought that the appointed judges would have been eliminated, when three additional courts were created. That did not happen as county court-at-law judges convinced the county commissioners that the increasing work load justified the continuation of that position. When Ron Pope, one of the family law court judges hired a replacement for the associate judge who resigned and unsuccessfully ran in the election against him, he refused to share the associate judge with the other family law court judge, Robert Kern.

When another associate judge was created early this year, again a tussle followed between criminal court judges and family courts. The new associate judge was taken over by the three district judges handling civil and criminal matters.

Finally, during the budget time this year, Kern won a "Pyrrhic victory" as County Judge Bob Hebert put it, when an associate judge position was approved for his court, but the salary was reduced to $80,000 from $92,000.

Last week, the council of judges, headed by Judge Brady Elliott, brought the issue back to commissioners court and asked that the associate judge's salary be fixed with a certainty and that should be 90 percent of the base salary drawn by a county court-at-law judge. That equates to about $92,200 at current level.

Commissioner Tom Stavinoha, who initially opposed the creation of an additional associate judge position, changed his mind after he was convinced by the judges, and he moved a motion to set the salary for the new judge at 90 percent of the CCL judge's salary. As there was no one to second the motion, Hebert himself seconded the motion.

Meyers opposed the move saying that there is no evaluation of the duties and responsibilities to establish the salary. Also, there is a potential for an increase in that salary as the next legislature is likely to increase the salaries of all judges.

Substandard salary

Disagreeing with Hebert's characterization of $80,000 for the new associate judge as a "substandard salary," Meyers pointed out that commissioners court had initially set that salary at lesser level, but the county court-at-law judges managed to add some supplements through backdoor methods and brought the salary to the current level.

Commissioner James Patterson, who proposed the $80,000 pay initially, opposed any change at this time. Many elected officials and even elected judges are paid substantially less in the county and a proper study of the elected officials' salaries should be done, before establishing the salary for associate judges, he said. Just a month ago, commissioners court set the salary and adopted the budget. The time is not right to change it, he said.

Judge Elliott defended the proposed policy on the ground that equal work should get equal pay. The new associate judge will do the same job as the others and cannot be paid less.

In then private sector, a fresh law graduate gets $120,000 to $150,000 year, Elliott pointed out. In fact, after 16 years in office as an elected judge, he is yet to get the salary that he was drawing in private practice, Elliott said. It was not salary, but public service that made him seek the office, he added.

Elliott also pointed out that judges in Texas are awfully underpaid compared to other states. He is not sure if the legislature would increase their salaries. To get a qualified, competent, experienced associate judge $80,000 is inadequate, he argued. Also, there must be some certainty in the salary structure, he said.

Finally, the vote came down to 3-2.Stavinoha, Hebert and Commissioner Grady Prestage, who is rarely opposed to creation of new positions and increasing the salaries, voted for the motion. Meyers and Patterson voted against it.